The connection between Language for Specific Purposes (LSP) and literature is discussed with examples of technical vocabulary drawn from a variety of writers, with particular attention to a sketch by the British dramatist Harold Pinter, "Trouble in the Works," which makes extensive use of the terminology of machine parts. It is noted that within certain occupational groups, terms for tools in particular have given rise of songs describing work processes but having a dual signification. This has subverted the truism that in LSP there must be a one-to-one relationship between signifier and signified by extending the semantic range, particularly in the field of metaphor. Taken together, the examples suggest that writers who are alert to nuances of language find in LSP a closed system that can be appropriated as a means to other ends. The writers offer a coherent group of texts, initially at least, that are more easily studied by technical students than by humanists. Contains 5 references. (Author/LB)